Tuesday, March 10, 2015

in progress

I wing it. Okay, okay, I do know how to handle (many of) my materials, but they can be unpredictable, I
often pick up something new to try, and mistakes sometimes lead to necessary
fixes or interesting ends.

I jump in, sometimes with just a color or
pattern in mind.

A friend gave me a worn wooden salad bowl. It was
nothing special, and not even vintage, simply plain, old secondhand (originally from Pier One, then unearthed in a thrift store, yeah...).

I
had saved some black and white striped tissue paper (because I save and reuse
things), thinking of decoupage possibilities down the line.

I pictured
the exterior of the bowl covered, haphazardly, asymmetrically, with the paper.

I didn't know where I was going to go from there. I jumped in, cut up the
paper, and broke out the Modge Podge. I discovered that tissue paper requires a
delicate hand, and that it wrinkles and crinkles in an unexpected way.

The black and white was not enough, I thought, when done applying the
paper. I turned to my acrylic paints and blocked out stripes and shapes in grey,
midnight blue and pink. Then I highlighted, defined, sharpened those with
crimson, green, and turquoise.

The paint not only served an aesthetic
purpose, but also a practical one, covering any seams or tears I did not like.

Here I am now. Not done, but getting there, in progress.

Next? Sealing the decoupage and painting with more Modge Podge, then layers of polyurethane for durability. And then sanding the interior and conditioning it with food-safe oil,